Candidates called to the Volvo Seats

Candidates for the local elections in May who want Kilcullen votes are to be asked to 'sit in the Volvo seats', writes Brian Byrne.

It's a phrase special to Kilcullen, as the Town Hall's seats are actually leather ones as used in the Volvo S60 car. How they got there is another story, but in this context the words are an invitation to the would-be councillors to come to a town meeting and lay out their stalls in public to those whose votes they are after.

The idea comes from local community activist Orla O'Neill, who has played pivotal roles in Kilcullen Community Action, the Community Playground Project, and most recently the achievement of the Community Childcare & Education Centre which will be ready by the end of April.

The suggestion is a variant of the system used in the USA, where smaller communities have such meetings on a regular basis so their elected representatives have to explain what they're at. The meetings are open to all in the community, and everybody is entitled to ask questions and say their piece, unlike in the Irish local authority system where the public can only observe at Council meetings.

The matter has a particular relevance in coming months, as the reorganisation of electoral areas has pushed Kilcullen back again to the Naas Electoral Area, after a period when most of the town has been represented in the Athy EA.

The only councillor who lives in the current Kilcullen part of Athy EA, Ivan Keatley (FG), intends to run in the Athy area again, as his electoral base is more towards the south of the county. Orla O'Neill believes the Town Meeting would provide a more interactive and intense opportunity to elicit how candidates' policies and communication plans might work best for the Kilcullen and its residents.

"The Kilcullen area was divided and bounced around from Naas to Athy and back to Naas for the 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections respectively," she notes. "And while it may be better that Kilcullen, Gilltown and Carnalway are now all in the one electoral area, the constant moving has not served us well. We have been on the periphery of both electoral areas and geographically peripheral areas always seem to lose out when it comes to dividing out the spoils."

She notes as an example the difficulty Kilcullen had in accessing local development levy funds for the Playground, because they had been gathered while Kilcullen was in the Naas EA, and were refused to the community after most of the town was shifted to Athy EA.

With a much increased population — Kilcullen now has some 6,000 people within its boundaries compared to less than 2,000 at the turn of the millenium — and a new local authority setup, Orla O'Neill suggests that at least one of the nine councillors who will be elected in the Naas EA should have a connection with or a focus on Kilcullen. A Town Meeting would help local voters to work out who among the candidates that might be.

"We held such a meeting back when we were trying to get our funds for the Playground," she recalls. "One of the things that came out of it was how few of the then councillors had any interest in Kilcullen. Only two of the five Naas area elected representatives turned up, and one of them had to phone to find out where the Town Hall was."

At that same meeting it was revealed that a local developer had sought and obtained residential zoning near Riverside Manor in return for providing a crèche and playground on a site beside the Liffey. "Although all Naas area councillors had been informed of our plans and knew we had community support to agitate for a playground at the Community Centre, not of them informed us of this rezoning proposal. It was all done without our knowledge."

Knowledge is everything, and Orla O'Neill wonders how many press releases were issued from last March to inform local residents that the Kilcullen Local Area Plan is being reviewed? She is aware that over the next few weeks, as the evenings lengthen, there are likely to be many strangers seen round these parts. "There are a few questions I will be asking. If elected how will you communicate with us as a community around issues affecting the town. Why is your party not fielding a female candidate (yes, I am assuming), and most importantly of all, have you ever sat in the Volvo seats?"

Videos of the expressions on the door-steppers' faces, as they tried to work that one out, would be fascinating.